With the advent of globalisation and a constantly progressing technological advancement, contemporary societies are experiencing a seismic shift in norms and values. Increasingly obvious, is the prospect of many individuals across the world deciding to live alone. In New York University sociology professor, Eric Klinenberg’s most recent book, ‘Going Solo: The extraordinary Rise and Appeal of Living Alone’, he explores the various motivations and structural factors behind the trend of living alone. The book offers a respite to the long-standing discrimination against people who choose to live alone, with accounts from a variety of what Klinenberg would call ‘singletons’. Upon reading the book, it has dawned on me how the trend of living alone is a result of a globalised attitude of individualism that inevitably presents itself as a social force of change, encouraging more to follow suit. Throughout the course of the book, Klinenberg categorises each chapter according to various themes and situations of living alone. Even then, much of the book is supported by anecdotal evidence from the ethnographic research that he has done. In assessing the rising trend towards living alone, most of the motivations point towards the upward social mobility of people living in developed nations who are therefore able to afford to choose between options of solo or communal living. Even as young professionals are earning enough to afford housing themselves, it is technological innovation and
Ultimately, he concludes that the concept of working-class family in which wife is a homemaker and husband the sole provider for the family no longer exist. He bases his conclusions on the premise that shift in cultural attitudes and lack of livable wages for working class have created alternative forms of cohabitation, where the partners aren’t married and have children out of wed-lock, which have been replacing the standard family unit—although in an unstable manner. I am convinced by his arguments because current ideas of
Escaping reality by abandoning society and going alone into the Alaskan wilderness, Chris McCandless was quite stupid, but inspiring to others. Chris influenced multiple people by being non conformativ. Cheryl Strayed is an example of this. Her almost dying in the wilderness helped her change for the better. This shows that isolation leaves room for self reflection and improvement in hopeless people oppressed by society’s
Leaving the community for moral decisions is thought of as an immoderation, or lack of personal restraint, rather than the yearning of something different that the individual has been longing for. Each individual is apart of a larger community, but full potential from an individual is suppressed by the community. In the Declaration of Independence it states “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”. This relates to opposing argument about community rights over individual rights, this text presents that each individual has a right to do what they want to do to find their happiness. Unavoidable pressure from society will happen, which may make an individual flee from its surroundings.
In today’s society, self-reliance and non-conformity is an annotation on the tenets that people still value. Some people in today’s world have seemed to forgotten the ability to be content in isolation and individuality. Being true to oneself takes bravery and it compels one to be pensive and unbiased. Like Chris McCandless, he was pensive and unbiased without being thoughtless or impertinent to others. Chris McCandless was also self-reliant and did not conform, which led him to define himself of who he truly
America has had a tumultuous existence, replete with war, progress, and ideologies. The most formidable of these is individualism, or the shift of society’s focus from the group to the individual and a growing emphasis on their personal needs and desires. Despite wide criticism, it has become the societal norm, spanning all generations, genders, races, and walks of life. Individualism, while indeed centered on the individual, is more accurately described as the changing and shifting relationship between the individual and society.
“God almighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go get a job an’ work, an’ no trouble. No mess at all…” (11).
Individualism is when a person has achieved non-conformity, self-reliance, free-thought, confidence, and finding one’s self through nature. Although individualism may be achieved in society, it cannot be fully achieved until one removes himself from society. Chris McCandless did exactly that; he removed himself from society by backpacking and hitchhiking throughout the United States to test and achieve individualism. McCandless’s last great adventure was to Alaska to fully obtain individualism, unfortunately, he died trying to find his spiritual belonging and individualism. Many people would think it was absurd that Chris left his family and threw his life away, and they would think that he was not justified in leaving society, however, Chris McCandless was justified in leaving society because by doing so he could achieve non-conformity and self-reliance without being oppressed.
Urbanization made many families move to cities and start entirely new lifestyles that hadn’t been as prominent in the past. Before industrialization, the cottage industry, small home businesses, and farming were common forms of income. But, as they moved to cities, that had to change. Familial life weakened as mothers began working in factories, children occupying their time either working or playing in the dirty streets. People lived in overcrowded tenants or apartments.
Rhetorical Analysis of Susan Cain ‘’The Rise of the New Groupthink” The purpose of “The Rise of the New Groupthink” by Susan Cain is to convince the readers that people should consider of being solitude and working alone instead being an extrovert or working group. Susan Cain’s aims to convince her readers a new style of creativity and brainstorming. Susan’s believe that being an introvert work is the key to success. Cain argues that people are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruption.
Can Loneliness Kill You? Every human on earth is born with the desire for some type of human connection and as one grows the need becomes even more profound. This need is portrayed in the film The Yellow Wallpaper when a woman with a evident mental disorder is isolated causing that disorder to intensify. Although, one's mental well being is not the only victim when it comes to social isolation.
C. Wright Mills puts forth in Ch. 1 “The Promise” that the discipline of sociology is focused primarily on the ability to distinguish between an individuals “personal troubles” and the “public issues” of one’s social structure. In the context of a contemporary society, he argues that such issues can be applied by reappraising what are products of an individual’s milieu and what are caused by the fabric of a society. The importance of this in a contemporary society is that it establishes the dichotomy that exists between an individual’s milieu and the structure of their very society.
Existentialism The concept of existentialism has so many contradicting and difficult to grasp components that it is much easier to put in terms of philosophy at its most fundamental. Synonyms of philosophy include: thinking and reasoning, namely the understanding of nature and existence of a person. Although several versions of existentialism exist, there are no set themes that could possibly encompass them all. This philosophy is valid to an individualistic level, however, it does not hold up to modern society as a whole.
Individualism not only helps a society grow, but also help the people in it realise that they are good at doing. Richard Koch in this article “In Individual Good or Bad,” compared the pros and cons of individualism. He believes that “individualism has been an enormous success in encouraging ordinary people
Late Adulthood is the stage of the human life cycle where an individual nears the end of their life. The life expectancy in the United States has slowly increased over the years therefore allowed many to further analyze the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development during late adulthood. The stage of late adulthood has been emphasized by ageism and the stereotypical "old" person but, will be further educated by the normative development of the life cycle of late adulthood. For the “old” experience dramatic changes in their development as they face loss, death, and illness.
Jerquan Stewart Essay 2 11/15/17 The differences between loneliness and isolation is that loneliness is when you don 't have any friends or family and just alone and isolation is when you choose to be by yourself , as in isolating yourself from everything. Being lonely has to deal with both social barriers and isolation is just dealing with personal choice. Most people enjoy loneliness rather than isolation because isolation is something that someone choose to do and no-one wants to be lonely so it 's most likely that people will avoid being lonely. Isolation have to deal with a lot of canceling out and being by themselves or choosing to be by themselves , and also its because they have to be lonely so they can focus on what they want to do or what goal they